WILLIAM B. DAVIS
by Stuart Banks
`X' rated talk as Stuart Banks opens up a pack of
twenty with actor William B. Davis on being "Cancer
Man".
Like a master of puppets, he manipulates from the
darkness. Coupled with the image of a small red glow
and wisps of blue smoke that curls and dances
upwards as his menacing countenance is slowly
revealed in the half-light...
Hardly an endearing image in the strictest sense.
Nevertheless, it is one that has made The X-Files’
literally named Cigarette Smoking Man one of the
most popular villains on the small screen. Whenever
that image appears you know things are going to
happen. And usually bad things, as he continues to
keep Mulder and Scully in the dark about what is really
going on. But what is it really like to be this most
mysterious of men, this shadow who seems to exert
so much power over people's lives?
Meet William B. Davis, the actor who plays him so
very well. Sitting in a west London hotel bar in the
middle of the day surrounded by a cornucopia of
silver, glass, sumptuous leather furniture and lush
green plants. It lends itself to a man who is, in reality,
more benevolent than benign as he swigs a gin and
tonic. The only tell-tale sign of the 'Smoking Man is an
occasional flash of cold eyes which seem to bore into
you every time he says something he considers
important.
"Chris [Carter] was quoted as saying he wanted
someone who could radiate power without speaking,"
says Davis as he tries to answer why he was chosen
for this role.
"Beyond that, it is very hard to say because the role,
and, what it has become weren't clear at the time. I
think it was thought to be a very shadowy character
who would always be in the background, who would
never really come out of the shadows. It has become a
much more developed and interesting character. They
[the writers] have taken him and developed a little
each time he has appeared until he finally had his own
episode [The Musings Of A Cigarette Smoking Man].
"He exercises his power through planning; through
other people; through structure. Not through his own
weight. In that sense he is carrying around an ability to
do an enormous amount of something."
Those cold eyes emphasise the word "something".
For a split second a silence hangs in the air before he
continues in the same soft, deliberate Canadian
monotone.
"But is not apparent that he is doing that. It would
probably be the same with the president of a bank. I
mean, I can visualise being the man and I can
visualise being in charge-whether it is acting schools
or theatre companies. I am used to being in charge."
In the craft of acting, making the character become
alive and real is paramount. Actors have often been
known to use props as tools to help them achieve that
believability: to use things that are "real". So, would he
say that he has achieved that believability of menace
through the use of the cigarettes?
"I suppose the simple answer is no, but it is always
helpful to have something realistic that one is doing -
we do that in acting classes all the time. We give
people real things to do, because it grounds you in
some kind of reality. Which lends credibility to you and
to the audience to the other things that [as an actor]
you are doing which are more imaginative. So the fact
that I smoke all the time means that I am doing
something real.
"Then in the context of what I am doing means I am
exercising power and I am excerising danger because
those are the things I am thinking about and am
focused on. The smoking is only connected to that
because that is what I am doing. I could just as easily
be smoking and telling jokes and having a gay old
time, if that is what the character is doing.
"I think the emphasis of the menace comes through
the cinematography. [They] do that all the time. The
cinematography certainly focuses on that."
Besides this literal level of portraying a man smoking
cigarettes, Davis is aware of a far deeper level of
metaphor.
"There is a metaphor of smoke and fire; Lucifer-the
devil, and the fires of Hell, and cancer, all rolled into
one big metaphor. You don't really play that as an
actor, that emerges in the production."
And all this from a man who in reality doesn't smoke.
He uses herbal cigarettes.
The Cigarette Smoking Man (or Cancer Man as he
was aptly dubbed by Mulder) does indeed, convey a
sense of power as well as menace - that ability to do
an "enormous amount of something". So how would
someone convey such a power, to have the ability to
give off that palpable atmosphere that translates itself
so well onto the screen? The answer to such a
question must surely be down to more than just good
camera work. The answer to that is something that
Davis finds tricky. But his response is nevertheless an
interesting one.
"Power is largely in the eyes of the victim. One of the
things we say again in acting classes is that you can't
play a king, you can only play a subject. A king
emerges because everybody responds to the king.
You can't go around being kingly. I am used to walking
into situations where I am in control. Here, the fact is I
am in control of much bigger and much more
dangerous things!" he cackles..
"These things tend to come out of the script, not
necessarily what I have to do. The other side of that is,
and in a way this goes back to the smoking, there is a
certain arrogance to the character and definitely a
bitterness, as well as a certain ruthlessness.
"I don't know why that comes so readily to me because
it doesn't feel like it is part of my normal life!" he
laughs again. So much for the menace. And just for a
moment those cold eyes soften.
"But I do actively tap that when I start to play the role of
the character. It seems to come up quite easily. But, I
have to put myself into that mind-set and the smoking
helps me do that. Once I do that, I am then within the
circumstances of that character.
"If I do a scene that doesn't have me smoking, usually
before we do a take, I'll mime smoking. Just to define
myself into that rhythm and that feel."
As it is well documented throughout the history of
storytelling, everybody is attracted to the seductive
power of a good villain - something never lost to film
and television makers.
With the Cancer Man, the same is true. Davis has had
fans give him packets of cigarettes. But such is the
attraction and seductive power of villainy that in this
instance, Davis found that the power of being Cancer
Man has found some positive use. In the world of
advertising.
You could well be forgiven for thinking that tobacco
companies would be beating a path to his door to
promote their product. In fact, the opposite is true.
"I had the Canadian Cancer Society approach me and
ask if I could be a spokesperson for them. For
anti-smoking. Nobody has asked me to promote their
product. In fact, I had one angry letter from a
pro-smoking group because I was portraying smoking
in such a bad light.
"So, I think the effect of the character and smoking, is
to deter people from smoking! I don't think anyone
would want to align themselves to this character."
Cancer Man is a character who is very controlled and
has an aura of being very reigned in. Something that
Davis admits his very much a part of himself.
"That is me. I am very much like that-in someways.
Some of that is very much natural to me. It does also
come from the circumstances of the character.
"I joke about it with fans at conventions: the contrast
between his character and Mulder, who tends to fly off
the handle at a moment’s notice. So I say to [the fans]
who would you rather have lead you? Somebody who
flies off the handle all the time or, someone who is very
thoughtful?"
Davis feels that with this control comes a very serious
subtext with the character.
"I think that there is a lot about the character that is
shutdown. That he has had to shutdown in his life:
once you have taken a certain track - in his case in
particular - and you have decided that you won't get off
it. That was the difference between this character and
Mulder's father who became an alcoholic and became
the remnants of a human being because he couldn't
deal with what he had started to do and then quit.
"Whereas CSM has stayed on the track but has simply
eliminated anything that would make it hard for him to
stay on track-relationships or fun or pleasure.
Ultimately he comes across as a very sad man."
Moving onto Cigarette Smoking Man's own episode,
Musings of A Cigarette Smoking Man, this was the
culmination of all the character building that had taken
place. The emphasis of which Davis felt was
somewhat lost on fans who felt that this was the actual
representation of the character's past and not what it
was actually meant to be: The Lone Gun Men's
representation of what they thought was his past. Not
that he blames them though.
"There was difficulty. I wish it had been clearer that that
was actually going on. It was how I saw it, how Chris
Carter saw it. But it was not how the writers saw it. It
was not how the director saw it. They thought it was
the true story."
What really interests Davis as far as developing the
character to its fullest is his humanity.
"I am certainly interested in this notion that [he] hasn't
been able to completely shutdown his humanity. But, I
thought in Musings it was a simplistic way to try and
show that. I think what are much more interesting are
the remnants of the relationship with Mrs Mulder. And
that there is some flicker of a memory of what it is like
to be a human being once," he says with a wry smile.
"That conflict between in a way, having sold one's soul
and yet...."
One of The X-Files’ unique abilities is to tap into the
undercurrent of paranoia that exists in North America,
in particular, the United States. So, does Davis feel
that Cigarette Smoking Man is someone who,
perhaps, controls that paranoia, or even creates it?
"I don't know if [he] creates the paranoia," says Davis
thoughtfully. "I would have to think about that. I mean,
there certainly is paranoia that he exploits. But whether
he generates it. I don't know that he is concerned with -
in fact the less people know about him the better. It's
not that he wants people to be afraid of what he's
doing, he doesn't want people to even know what he is
doing.
"It's Mulder who generates the paranoia. It's Mulder
who goes round saying, `you'd better watch out!
There's all this going on!', and that kinda creates a
flack that may get in the way, or even, maybe
something useful because it creates flack which
muddies the atmosphere.
"Though I am in no doubt that the show does reflect on
our own paranoia of those who we trust to look after
us. I think the more interesting question is why do
people now have that lack of trust and all this
paranoia. That is a relatively recent phenomenon.
People might have disagreed with say, Roosevelt, or
Churchill, or Attlee, but they didn't think that they were
shady.
"But, to really play CSM I have to believe that he is
doing the right thing, as you would any role. And what
is interesting is that you don't know what he is doing
and you never see what he's doing, or the end result of
what he is doing. It may well now be that it has gone
beyond questioning it. Because, he has had to make
so many compromises and so many sacrifices that he
is in too deep and all you can do is keep going. You
can't back out."
Drawing on his own experiences of a man who likes to
be in control, or is used to being in control, there is
also the aspect that even Cigarette Smoking Man has
his masters too. A subject that makes Davis laugh
knowingly. A sort of uncomfortable, squirmy knowing
laugh.
"Yes, yes. The Well Manicured Man (who got blown six
ways from Sunday in the film). Yes. Well. Here I was,
thinking that I was in control and then all of a sudden
this syndicate appears that I have never heard about
before. And Well Manicured Man appears to be
bossing me around. I was very upset!" said Davis
laughing.
"But as the show, unlike other shows, doesn't have a
bible, and it is invented as it goes along, some of it
gets explained. And as the show went on, it seemed
as if my character was starting to get the upperhand
with him."
In all this searching for the `truth' Davis feels that "it is
entirely possible" that all Mulder and Scully will find is
more shades of grey:
"This onion may have a centre, but we many never find
it," he says, laughing.
While Davis is delighted with being a part of a hit
television show, he is concerned about the number of
parts that he has gone in and read for bad guys.
"I do get more readings for bad guys - more than I probably
should. Not that I have a problem with doing bad guys. There are
only certain bad guys that I am good at. The kind of bad guys
who throw their weight around-the ‘heavies’ - I'm actually not very
good at those. [This] character because of his intelligence and
sophistication I'm good at, it suits me perfectly."